


heart and might in the forest

by chailattemusings



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Fae & Fairies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 04:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17094032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chailattemusings/pseuds/chailattemusings
Summary: Caduceus finds some troublemakers near the Mighty Nine's camp, and takes care of them.





	heart and might in the forest

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from some fandom friends about Caduceus being a type of forest fae creature.

Caduceus’ ears flicked, picking up a light noise from the brush in the forest. He blinked, vibrant violet eyes adjusting quickly to the still present darkness and the shadows looming around their campsite. Sound chimed at the edge of his hearing, ears flicking again to angle and catch the direction of the sound. With a great, lumbering sigh, Caduceus sat up and stretched his long neck, craning it up and out.

Something glowed in the forest, almost too far to catch behind the massive dark shapes of the trees that surrounded them. The pale moonlight reflected back shades of blue and green, and among them were the sharp slivers of lights bobbing freely like tiny flames. Caduceus blinked and whuffed out a low breath, getting his staff and pushing himself up to standing. Around him, his new friends dozed peacefully, and the one on watch–Yasha–was nowhere to be found. Caduceus dug his clawed toes into the earth to feel the refreshing coolness of the dirt, one hand running up his staff to cradle around the gem at the top that glowed its constant soft pink light.

“Do you see them?” Caduceus whispered into it, his eyes fixed on the lights. “Yes, so do I. I think we have nighttime visitors.” He paused to turn his long neck back to the camp and his sleeping companions. Yasha never went far without telling them. He could trust her.

With large, silent steps, Caduceus padded across grass and low brush, deeper into the trees, letting himself be guided by the tinkling, twinkling lights some hundred feet away. He hadn’t seen any like them since leaving the graveyard and his heart fluttered to know he hadn’t lost some fundamental part of himself, that the ethereal creatures just beyond reality still called to him. Not everyone would know them for what they were on sight, thinking them fireflies or the glowing embers of ghosts. He was certain some of his new companions would destroy them without question if they laid eyes on them. But Caduceus knew these delicate creatures, had seen them fluttering around gravestones and hiding in the caps of mushrooms at his home.

The chimes sounded louder the closer he got. Caduceus moved slower as he approached, careful not to let his paws snap a twig or crinkle a leaf. The wrong move would send them scattering to the wind like a snow flurry, forever lost and untrusting of the beast that had invaded their celebration.

Their glow became less of a mask as he stepped closer, nostrils wide to take in the scent of fresh rain and dewdrops that surrounded them. He could see bodies within the tiny lights, shapes that morphed and stretched to imitate the world around them and never quite settling in one place. His tail flicked behind him to mimic their shapeshifting dance, inviting them to see him as one of them.

The cluster of fey lights bent and stretched, forming a path. Caduceus sighed out his approval, knowing anything louder would scare them. He tiptoed around the trees, one hand on his staff and the other in front to brace for any accidental impact, hand outstretched in silent invitation. None of the creatures took it but a few of them swirled around his fingers, bodies shaping around his hand as they inspected. Caduceus grinned, flashing wide teeth in a message of delight and warning. The light creatures bobbed rapidly and darted away, back to their glowing cluster to swirl among their brethren and titter about the giant monster who could so easily eat them if he chose.

They eventually led him to a clearing, where his prize awaited. The cluster of lights had gathered around a ring of mushrooms, dancing and spinning across the tops in a circular pattern that left an afterglow as their magic collected and condensed. A fierce, angry light rested atop the circle waiting to be set off, for a friend or foe to trip the border and set chaos upon the forest.

Caduceus tutted and kneeled next to the faerie ring, stretching his hand out to brush the barrier. He could feel the magic cooking within, piled upon the poor mushroom caps for days or weeks. “Well,” he said, his voice like a low drumbeat that boomed across the cluster of fey lights and shocked them into stillness, “we can’t have this, can we?”

The cluster shook, vibrating in protest.

“I know,” he soothed, chittering at them like an insect to its hive. “You see, I have friends nearby, and they wouldn’t much appreciate your type of fun. In fact they might come back here and try to destroy this entirely,” he waved a hand to the mushroom ring.

Another angry vibration from the lights. Their forms shifted fast now, twisting and crying with unspent magic. Caduceus could smell burning mycelium where they stood on the mushrooms, the glow sizzling the mushroom caps like fresh embers. He cooed again and reached out but when his fingers drew close, one of the tiny glowing forms lashed out and swiped the tip, teeth gnashing into the tough finger pad to prick him.

Caduceus jerked back and glanced at this finger. A thin drop of blood welled, like red crystal against pale pink skin. “Oh,” Caduceus snorted and stood, “oh, my little friends, I was trying to be nice. I truly was.”

Another angry vibration from the glowing fey sprites. They hummed low like a swarm of bees. Caduceus flashed his teeth, and raised his hand. “You’ve drawn blood,” he rumbled, the single drop shimmering pearlescent on his skin. “I hope you’re prepared for the contract this seals, little ones.”

The sprites drew back as a cluster, fluttering above their mushroom ring. “Are you going to stop this nonsense?” Caduceus asked, spreading the toes of his paws out to brace himself on the forest floor.

Another hum and this time the fey burned a vibrant orange, a wall of fire circling their magic ritual. Caduceus tutted, shaking his head. “I see. Very well.” He flicked his finger, the drop of blood arcing out over the lights and falling in the center of the faerie ring.

His staff hummed with bright energy and Caduceus gripped it with both hands, smearing his wound across the gem to seal the contract, his violet eyes shining to mirror the single drop of blood that now refracted the fey’s magic like a prism, absorbing and reflecting with a hundred times the intensity. The glowing lights screeched in protest, the cluster collapsing in on itself and scrambling to avoid the circle that grew where the blood had fallen, consuming the faerie ring from the inside out.

When it touched the mushrooms themselves they shriveled, burning death consuming them and collapsing the magical barrier. The cluster of fey wound tighter and tighter over the center of the ring, fighting off the energy of Caduceus’ magic, but only singed themselves as the bright beams scattered across their ever shifting forms.

With one final push, the blood scorched the earth below it and the last mushroom fell, a rumbling like a small avalanche sounding through the clearing. The fey screamed and dove from their precious ritual, slamming into trees and grass and bushes in their desperation to escape the wrath of Caduceus’ vengeance.

Caduceus breathed out hard and blinked, watching the last of the sprites scatter to the wind. Where their circle had been there stood now only blackened earth and the remains of dead plants, wilted and cracked and dry. “That’s a shame,” he murmured. “Those might have made good tea.”

Footsteps stomped through the forest and a low voice called out, “Caduceus?!”

He craned his long neck out, head tilted as Yasha came barreling through, her sword out and her posture ready for a fight. She stopped at the clearing edge, eyes narrowed as she took in Caduceus’ calm demeanor next to the smoldering earth. “What- what happened?”

“Oh, nothing much,” he said, with a slow smile. “Just taking care of some… unwanted tricksters. These forests can be dangerous.”

“Tricksters?” Yasha skirted around the circle of burnt earth, moving to scuff it with her boot.

“I wouldn’t,” he cautioned. Yasha stopped with her boot hovering above it and set it down warily as he said, “The sprites are gone but the magic might not be. Best to stay clear of it.”

“All right.” Yasha raised a brow at the burnt ground and looked to Caduceus. “You’re not hurt?”

“No more than a scratch.” He raised his hand, the bloodstain still smeared on his finger pad. “Sprites can be nasty.”

“I wouldn’t know.” She pursed her lips and tilted her head back toward the camp. “Let’s get back. We might have woken some people up with the noise. Jester can probably heal that for you.” She pointed to the wound.

“Oh,” Caduceus drew his hand in close, tail swaying lazily as he followed Yasha back through the dark shadows and looming trees, “it’s all right. A good night’s rest will see this perfectly well by the morning.”

Yasha shrugged, unbothered, and Caduceus took his chance while her back was turned to lead them. He tilted his staff and peered at the gem atop it, tracing his bloodied finger across the surface. Inside it, there was a soft, familiar yellow glow, and the low buzzing of the ones who hadn't made it. He grinned. “There, beauties,” he said. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” 


End file.
